Evaluation of different landing pages on behavioural engagement with the CARA dashboard: A user research protocol.

Background: CARA set out to develop a data-visualisation platform to facilitate general practitioners to develop a deeper understanding of their patient population, disease management and prescribing through dashboards. To support the continued use and sustainability of the CARA dashboards, dashboard performance and user engagement have to be optimised. User research places people at the centre of the design process and aims to evaluate the needs, behaviours and attitudes of users to inform the design, development and impact of a product.

Objective: To explore how different initial key messages impact the level of behavioural engagement with a CARA dashboard.

Methods: Participating general practices can upload their practice data for analysis and visualisation in CARA dashboards. Practices will be randomised to one of three different initial landing pages: the full dashboard or one of two key messages: a between comparison (their practice prescribing with the average of all other practices) or within comparison (with practice data of the same month the previous year) with subsequent continuation to the full dashboard. Analysis will determine which of the three landing pages encourages user interaction, as measured by the number of 'clicks', 'viewings' and 'sessions'. Dashboard usage data will be collected through Google analytics.

Discussion: This study will provide evidence of behavioural engagement and its metrics during the implementation of the CARA dashboards to optimise and sustain interaction.

Trial Registration: ISRCTN32783644 (Registration date: 02/01/2024).